Every Episode of ‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ to Include ‘End Tags’

[WARNING: Spoilers for 'Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.' Episodes 2 & 3 Below]

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After premiering to more than 12 million viewers, the ratings for Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. dropped significantly in its second episode, causing a mild panic for fans who want to see the series evolve and the newly introduced characters grow. Fortunately, the ratings for the third episode, “The Asset,” dipped only slightly from the second and, perhaps more importantly, it seemed to steer the story in a positive and fan-friendly direction.

With many fans clamoring for appearances from recognizable villains and beloved heroes following the mixed reviews of the pilot, the show’s producers surprised fans by including a Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) cameo in the final moments of episode two. Then in this week’s episode, the series teased the introduction of its first super villain in another “end tag” (sort of like the post-credits sequence of the TV world), which it plans to continue to use in an effort to build more interest from episode to episode.

In an interview with Comic Book Resources before the premiere of “The Asset,” Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. writer Jeffrey Bell said that each episode of the series from here on out will include a “tag,” which is designed to entice viewers to return each week.

According to Bell:

“Part of our storytelling on this show is going to be a tag every week. We need people to know about that. The show ends, the S.H.I.E.L.D. eagle comes up, there are nine hours of commercials because it’s TV, and then before we go to the next show, we’re almost always going to have another minute, minute and a half of something, and those will be different from week to week.”

Another purpose of the tag is to ensure that viewers stay tuned in until the very end of the episode. Bell noted that not every tag will tease future events, but that some will reveal more about the current episode. He also pointed out that tags are something all Marvel productions use, so the show’s efforts are also to stay in line with the trend.

Said Bell:

“One of the things we want people to know is, ‘Stick around for the tag.’ Having a special one like we did early is also to tell you, ‘Pay attention to that.’ I know when ‘Iron Man’ did that after all the credits, a lot of the people left and didn’t know they should have stayed. Now you watch a Marvel movie, and everybody stays until the end. We’re going to be doing that, and we want people to know. Sometimes it’ll be funny, sometimes it’ll be a mythology thing, sometimes it’ll be a self-contained thing, or an extra little reveal about something that was in the episode.”

Episode 3′s tag certainly did a good job of building some interest, as it teased the introduction of the Marvel villain Graviton with a simple shot inside a secret vault where the agency is storing a mysterious element called “Gravitonium.” After an agent removes a numerical label from the vault door, we then see the hand of Dr. Franklin Hall – who had been sucked into the matter earlier in the episode – reach out from the globular mass, which of course indicates that he will soon become Graviton, as he did in the comics.

Marvel fans will likely be thrilled by the prospect of seeing the first major baddie from the comics on the show, while other viewers could be more compelled to find out what will happen next week because of episode 3′s tag. It’s hard to know if these tags will increase viewership numbers, but they could at least help stabilize them.

Of course, there are many criticisms of the new Marvel show other than the lack of familiar faces. Many fans and critics feel some of the main characters are bland and need to be further developed, which is a concern the show’s producers seem to already be addressing.

We’re still holding out hope that Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. will make a significant contribution to the overall Marvel live-action mythos, so we, like all of you, will be interested to see how the story and characters take shape.

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Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. returns next Tuesday, October 15th, 2013 with “Eye-Spy” @8pm on ABC.

The Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. pilot deals with people being enhanced via Extremis, which means it’s set after Iron Man 3, i.e. at least a few months after The Avengers. I expect Thor: The Dark World to be set loosely around that time as well.

Cap 2 was stated in official interviews to be set “in real time” with its release date, i.e. two years after The Avengers; that means there’s potential for quite a lot of stuff to have happened within S.H.I.E.L.D. between those movies, although I don’t expect any event or character from the TV show to be directly referenced in the new Cap movie.

Yes, it does definitely has room for improvement. I see Shield getting better in the second and third seasons. But with audiences being fickle and all I’m not sure that’s a good thing. The tags will definitely help, some, but unless they have some higher paced, edge of your seat ( like another new series I started watching this fall called “The Blacklist” ) than I don’t see a future for this series despite its Marvel universe link.

I’m not going to wait for season 2 or 3 for the show to be good. Despite some Smallville-esque moments, Arrow managed to keep my interest for the whole first season and the season 2 premiere was great. This show has yet to really impress me. I’m glad they’re adding characters and elements from the comics instead of rehashing things we’ve seen in the movies but the writing is still abysmal and so is the acting. This episode was better but still way under par.

Can’t speak for episode 3 (hasn’t aired yet) but you’re right about this show and others mentioned.

Some of us over here in the UK have this sentiment where we’re scared to watch a US-based show because viewers over there are quick to drop it, thus killing the ratings of what is actually a great show or has the potential to be one, destroying the enjoyment of the rest of the world when networks pull the plug because of the lack of viewers.

I spoke to my brother a few days ago about Low Winter Sun getting bad ratings in the US and how we both love the show and his response to my concerns that it might not see a season 2 were the same as with other shows we liked:

“Well, Americans are $tupid anyway, everyone knows that. They cancel great shows but have 10 seasons of crappy comedy shows and police dramas.”

I don’t share that sentiment about intelligence but it’s a shame that a lot of what he said was correct.

Yeah I have to admit as well that as a group when watching a show–the intelligence level can be/is low. Why do you think we have too many reality shows? However that is just an opinion of my own nothing else.

I find it ironic, dazz, that you bring up crappy police dramas then claim that you really like LWS. To me, it’s a derivative police drama that really doesn’t stand out. I haven’t really seen anything on that show that separates it from other other police dramas.

Also, it’s stupid that your brother to make such a comment about a group comprised of around 450 million people.

Wait, so S.H.I.E.L.D is for smart people now. Hmmm, they seem to be going about it the wrong way.

Also, I think American networks cancel American shows because North Americans aren’t watching. Why should they take the rest of the world into account? Does the UK take American viewership into account when continuing with their shows or cancelling?

What this show needs is some decent scripts, less hyperbole about how good the team is from Coulson and some actual scenes depicting how good they are by way of some old fashion plotting and character development… The show also needs some umbrella plot like the pattern in Fringe or the comspiracy in X files to move the action along as so far its been just another procedural… They also need to drop Whedon as his involvement so far has been weka and ineffectual and bring in someone with a bit more vision… I’m still waiting to be enthralled by the series.

Lets just hope my Sky+ tapes the end credits and post-credits scene then because if it cuts out at 9pm to begin recording Orphan Black immediately after, I’m screwed and so are other UK viewers who can’t watch on Friday nights for varying reasons.

I still find it bemusing when a movie’s end credits come up and everyone rushes to leave the building as quickly as possible with only a handful of us staying behind.

That happened with every Marvel movie since they began with Iron Man, plus The Wolverine and Evil Dead. The only one that had most of its audience stay behind was Man Of Steel but then there was immense disappointment about a lack of post-credits scene.

i don’t see why people are saying this show can’t be saved. it started out slow yes, but episode three was a huge improvement over what came before. this show needs to slow down, seriously take a cue from breaking bad, walking dead, dexter, or a hundred other beloved shows – slow it down!

Skye is the only thing holding my interest and seeing Coulson’s cybernetics revealed during some action sequence or something. I can stomach the action guy and May, but those two rocket scientist get on my nerve. They are indeed very vanilla.

I totally agree. I mean the end tag from the last episode was decent. It helped the plot. But the one with Fury really made me mad. You got Coulson, who has been made out to be this bad ass up til now. And almost whimpering in front of Fury. I get that Fury is his boss and is yelling at him but it was just such a big switch of character for him that it kinda took me out of it. Lucjily it was at the end of the episode and the next episode made up for it a bit.

I think I’m really going to make a point of avoiding these threads from now on. Too many people talking the talk and too few people walking the walk. It’s called changing the channel. Don’t like it? Don’t watch it. Don’t talk about it. Don’t acknowledge it. This crap reminds me of WBC, attending funerals just to let people know how much they hate the dead and the mourning.

It’s pathetic. Oh, and I really like this show. I hope it goes the full season. Joss has how many successful projects under his belt? And people somehow decide he doesn’t know what he’s doing. Wake up and smell the Whedon.

The Arrow comments need to disappear from AOS articles. That show started off bad, just like this one, but got better according to people, even though I think its not good at all. The acting on that show is FAR worse. The main thing holding AOS back is it’s cheap budget. The fight and boxing scenes in the third episode were horrible, but it was a great expisode.

I’ve been DVRing this since NCIS is a much better show and I still don’t understand why they would put it against it.

I’ve seen a small improvement but honestly, unless they get rid of everyone but Coulson and May, I don’t see this show getting a second season. Its a shame and I had some hopes before the pilot but this has been NOTHING like what I imagined.

To all who complain about it ,we are three episodes in people, for crying out loud:a new show needs time to develop , I know we live in a 20 minute world,where there has to be running ,shooting ,fighting and splosions every 20 minutes,but give it a chance.Hell I ‘m already started warming up to Sky,when she got out of the pool.

Its the 3rd episode already and they still cant produce a decent episode.
Coulson is good so is Melinda May but the rest of the young cast just don’t have a substantial impact, i just don’t care what happens to them or with them. Add the bad plot and the constant self explainable statements from the annoying geek duo and you get a show that might be in danger. i don’t want it to get canceled but it needs to improve drastically to survive the next month.http://www.coolreviewsrule.com/2013/10/marvels-agents-of-shield-review-asset.html

Ok really enjoying the series but my son and I have been laughing unstoppably about the characterisation of Malta.. honestly American tv people what did you do just look at a map and point at a small bit? Malta is in the EU it still has very close ties to the UK who had a massive naval presence there for hundreds of years, the Queen went there on her honeymoon… seriously the evil Republic of Malta where mad evil scientists can hide out and carry out their evil schemes free from international oversight? Oh dear…

It’s going to get good don’t give up on it don’t let the she die over 8 million fans are watching it that’s a lot even though the ratings dropped some so it’s not even close to being a failure. So we have to support the shield people it’s going to get good and please don’t get on here and bash and down the actors there starting to settle into there roles.i will say is it the end for sky.guess we will find out in fourth episode make sure you watch it to find out can’t wait to when ironman.thor,captain America make there appearances just to name a few of what the future holds for this series later